This invention relates generally to methods and systems for verifying the validity of biometric data, and more particularly, to a method of host-directed illumination for verifying the validity of biometric data captured from a user at a remote location and a system for conducting such host-directed illumination.
Typically, during network-based biometric authentication transactions conducted with a user at a remote location, the user requesting authentication provides a claim of identity and biometric data. However, imposters have been known to impersonate users during remotely conducted network-based biometric authentication transactions by providing a false claim of identity supported by fraudulent biometric data in an effort to deceive an authenticating entity into concluding that the imposter is the person they claim to be. Such impersonations are known as spoofing.
Impostors currently use many methods to obtain or create fraudulent biometric data of others that can be submitted during authentication transactions. For facial biometric data imposters have been known to obtain two-dimensional pictures of others, from social networking sites such as Facebook, which can be presented to a camera during authentication to support a false claim of identity. Imposters have also been known to create fraudulent biometric data by making a physical model of a biometric modality, such as a fingerprint using gelatin or a three-dimensional face using a custom mannequin. Moreover, imposters have been known to eavesdrop on networks during legitimate network-based biometric authentication transactions to surreptitiously obtain genuine biometric data of users. The imposters then use the obtained biometric data for playback during fraudulent network-based authentication transactions. Such fraudulent biometric data are known to be difficult to detect using known liveness detection methods. Consequently, accurately conducting network-based biometric authentication transactions with biometric data captured from a user at a remote location depends on verifying the physical presence of the user during the authentication transaction as well as accurately verifying the identity of the user with the captured biometric data. Verifying that the biometric data presented during a network-based biometric authentication transaction conducted at a remote location is from a live person at the remote location, is known as liveness detection or anti-spoofing.
Methods of liveness detection have been known to use structure derived from motion of a biometric modality, such as a face, to distinguish a live user from a photographic image. Other methods have been known to detect sequential images of eyes or eyeblink techniques to determine if face biometric data is from a live user. However, such methods may not detect spoofing attempts that use high definition video playback to present fraudulent biometric data, and therefore do not provide high confidence liveness detection support for entities dependent upon accurate biometric authentication transaction results.